


Poisonous Love

by TheWeatherOutside



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Angst, Attempted Kidnapping, Breaking Up & Making Up, Car Chases, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Pen and Ink, in which lady p apologises more than she should
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:00:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29735634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWeatherOutside/pseuds/TheWeatherOutside
Summary: Lady Penelope's work is a dangerous one, she knew that from the start. Lady Penelope also loves Gordon, of which she is sure.But when Gordon gets caught in the crossfire of her work, she has to make a decision she never wanted to make.
Relationships: Penelope Creighton-Ward/Gordon Tracy
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	Poisonous Love

**Author's Note:**

> don't mind me, just writing more pen&ink angsty stuff.

Penelope sighed inwardly as she shut off her compact and looked up at the disappointed face of the man across from her.

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Gordon waved her off, but she didn't miss the upset in his voice. "All part of the job."

"But this was supposed to be our night."

It was hard to find a time when the two of them were off to have a date night. This was already their third attempt, and it was the furthest they had gotten. So far, they hadn't even made it as far as meeting each other before one of them had to be whisked away.

This time it was Penelope who was needed. There was a man, a criminal, who she had been hunting down for months, and now finally there was a lead on the location of where he had been hiding.

"You could always not go."

But she had to. If she didn't go now, then she may miss this opportunity and she had no idea when the next one would come.

"I wish I could do that, but you know I can't." Penelope dropped the compact back into her purse, whilst Gordon waved the waiter down to pay the bill. They had barely gotten past ordering their drinks.

They put their coats on and then made their way out of the restaurant. Parker was already waiting for her outside, and he quickly got out of the car to open the door.

He knew what it was like. He was prepared for this evening to go one way, which was why he hadn't bothered to find a place to park for the evening.

"Do you need a lift?" She asked Gordon.

"Nah. You have somewhere to be. I'll just get Virg to pick me up, he owes me a favour." He was grinning, but Penelope knew him all too well. She knew how disappointed he was feeling, and he was trying to mask it for her, but it wasn't working because she felt the same.

"We will do this again soon." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and then ducked into FAB 1.

Her eyes didn't leave Gordon as Parker drove away, and he gave her a wave as he stood looking lonely on the pavement. She waved back until she couldn't see him anymore, and then twisted in her seat to face Parker again. She needed to concentrate on this new mission.

"I don't understand."

"There's not much to understand, M'lady. We're in a field."

"We are indeed in a field."

Penelope looked back down at the address her contact had sent her, but they were in the right place. Only, the 'right place' was a sheep field in the middle Yorkshire.

"Why would they send me here?" Penelope looked around to see if she was missing something, maybe a cottage that was too difficult to see in the dark, but there was nothing. "Maybe there's an underground bunker around here somewhere."

"Doubt it, M'lady. I think we've been stitched up."

Penelope frowned as the two of them turned around and headed back to FAB 1. Her evening with Gordon had been cut short for nothing, and her contacts never led her so far off path. Something didn't make sense.

Before she called her contact to find out why they had decided to send her all the way out here, she decided to call Gordon to apologise again. He seemed pretty upset when she left him, even if he didn't show it, and she wanted to make it up to him. Maybe they could still do something tonight.

However, Gordon never picked up. She didn't think much of it and put it down to him just being mad, even though it wasn't in Gordon's nature to be petty. Instead, she called Virgil.

"Hey, Lady P. What's up?" Virgil picked up immediately. His hologram grinned at her, but Penelope couldn't help but notice that it didn't look like he was flying. "Is Gordon giving you grief?"

"No, actually," Penelope said slowly, wondering why he was asking her that. "I was calling because I wanted to see how he is?"

Virgil's brow furrowed. "Why would I know? Isn't he with you?"

"No, he's not. I got called away on a job." Penelope could see Parker send her a look in the rear-view mirror, and Penelope returned it before looking at Virgil again. "Did he not call you to fly him home?"

"No."

That was enough for Penelope to know that this was not just a mistake. This was intentional.

"Parker, get us back to the restaurant as fast as you can. This was a trap."

The restaurant came into view as they flew through the sky. Parker was taking them at top speed, but by the time they made it, the street outside the restaurant was deserted. No sign of Gordon. Penelope's concern churned in her stomach.

Parker landed FAB 1 outside the building in the very spot he'd parked in earlier. Penelope was out of the car before he even had the chance to open the door for her, and glanced around for any sign of where Gordon had gone. She hoped that maybe he had just gone for a walk, but that didn't seem likely.

"Do you have anything, John?" Penelope asked the man in her compact, who had been on the line with her since she'd explained the situation to him on the way back.

"I'm still looking." John sounded distracted as he looked at something she couldn't see. "Could you walk around and maybe scan the area? It'll give me a better reading."

Penelope nodded sharply and got to work. She needed to be doing something to help, couldn't just stand there and wait.

She walked along the pavement outside of the restaurant, Parker not too far behind her. She wanted to tell him to give her some space, but she knew the purpose for it.

He was on edge. If something had happened to Gordon right here on this busy street, then who knows what could happen to her if he turned his back. She couldn't blame him. It was his job.

"Found something."

John said it right as she reached the alleyway next to the restaurant. It was empty, save for the dustbins, but she knew that for John and his scanners, there was always more than what meets the eye.

"What is it?" She stopped at the opening of the alley and faced his hologram again.

"Tire tracks on the ground. They're fresh. If I can work out what kind of vehicle they're from, I can find-" He stopped, hesitant. He finally looked up at Penelope, but still couldn't quite meet her eye. "Lady Penelope, if Gordon's not there, then there is a chance that he was-"

"Taken, I know." She had quickly put the pieces together on their way back here, and she didn't need John to tell her. Gordon had been taken and it was her fault. It was why she had been called away, to the middle of nowhere, so whoever it was could get to him, whilst he was _alone_.

"Yeah," John nodded and looked away again, and Penelope was reminded that this would be affecting him just as much as it was affecting her, maybe even more so. "But I can track down the vehicle they took him in, if that's even what those tracks are from. It shouldn't haven gotten far in the time that you last saw him."

His eyes started flicking over something offscreen again and his hands moved just as quickly.

"Right, I know what van those tracks are from," he said just a moment later. "I'm going to scan the area in a fifty-mile radius. They shouldn't have gotten further than that if they were driving on those streets."

Penelope wordlessly moved back to FAB 1 and Parker followed her. They were going to be needed and she wanted to be ready.

"I've found a few vans all within the area," John spoke with a frown just as Penelope did her seatbelt.

"Scan for heat signatures. There's always more than there should be." This wasn't Penelope's first experience with kidnappers in a getaway vehicle. There was never going to be just two of them, especially if they had acted so swiftly in a place like this.

John hummed in acknowledgment of what she'd said and tapped further away.

"I have them," came barely a second later. "I will inform the GDF."

He didn't hesitate in sending the location to Penelope, who immediately gave the directions to Parker. They were in the air before John had even found the vehicle, which meant they didn't waste any time in setting off across the city and towards what was hopefully Gordon's location.

John kept them updated on the van's location. It was going fast, definitely speeding, which just increased the chances that this was who had taken Gordon, but with the two of them flying through the air, it meant that they were gaining on them just as quick.

The location John gave them led them out of the city and to the surrounding countryside. The cars on the roads beneath them grew sparse and as they got closer to where John was directing them to, they could only see one.

It was a white, nondescript van. A stereotypical getaway vehicle for kidnappers. She wasn't surprised.

"Remember Gordon's in there," she said to Parker as she looked out the window at the van.

Usually, in the kind of situation where they were chasing after a vehicle, Parker would try to run them off the road. However, they had to be careful here, as this time Gordon was involved and she didn't want him to get hurt.

"Don't worry, M'lady. I have a plan."

Parker flew the car over and landed it so that it was driving in front of the van. There was no way that whoever was driving that van didn't know they were there now. That took away any element of surprise, not that Penelope was intending to sneak up on them.

Parker pressed a button and Penelope looked out the back window to see the small spikes shoot out the back of FAB 1 and scatter across the road.

The van didn't have time to skirt around the spikes and ended up driving right over them. Penelope waited for the inevitable swerve as the tyres popped and the driver struggled to gain control on flat rubber, but instead the vehicle just carried on like it had simply driven over pebbles.

"Looks like they've got reinforced tyres, M'lady," Parker uttered as he watched through the rear-view mirror.

"Do you have another idea?" Penelope twisted back around to face him.

"There's always the oil, but at the speed they're going I can't guarantee they won't slide right off the road."

Penelope frowned at that and turned to look back out the window. That wouldn't be good if the van, with Gordon inside, went flying into a ditch at the side of the road.

"What if you could reduce their speed?" Penelope suggested, flicking a glance to Parker to see his reaction.

"That idea's not 'alf bad, M'lady." Parker smirked in mischief as his foot left the acceleration and started to ease down on the brake pedal.

FAB 1 gradually started to slow down, forcing the vehicle behind it to do the same.

The driver behind was not having any of it, though, and tried to drive around them. Parker was quick and dived in front of them. He swerved from left to right to stop them from getting past, all the while slowing down to force the van to do the same.

They were still going too fast and it seemed the driver didn't want to play around with them anymore, as Penelope could see it visibly pick up speed and draw closer towards them. A moment later, FAB 1 lurched forward as the bumper of the van slammed into the back of the car.

Penelope gripped onto her seat as Parker fought to keep control. They were forced along the road and in the end had to pick up speed again, or they would be the ones driven off the road. It was either that or fly into the air again, which meant that the van would just drive ahead of them.

"We need to find a way to stop them." Penelope was still watching the van behind them. It was still getting faster, and she could physically feel how FAB 1 was trying to match the speeds so as to not get pushed off the road again. "Maybe if we- watch out!"

She had just broken her gaze from the van to briefly look at the console in front of Parker to get an idea of what they had to work with, but that was when she saw it.

They were fast approaching a bend, way too fast with no time to slow down, and Penelope thought they were about to crash.

Luckily, Parker was the best driver she knew, and he had seen the problem too. He certainly didn't have the time or space to slow down with how close the van was behind them, but he could control the turn.

Penelope braced herself against the door next to her as the car spun around quickly as it flew around the tight bend.

On the other side of the bend was a narrow bridge. They abruptly stopped sideways along the road, halfway across the bridge. For a split-second Penelope thought that they were going to go careening off that bridge and into the river below, not that she had anything to worry about as FAB 1 was both a plane and submersible. Which meant that the chance of them falling was low and if they did fall in the water, it wouldn't matter.

However, not everyone had that luxury.

From their view, sat across the bridge, they could see the van come speeding around the bend behind them. The driver had a lot less control over the vehicle than Parker had, and it was almost in slow motion that Penelope watched the van go flying off the road, past the bridge, and down the bank into the river.

Penelope's heart stopped.

_Gordon_.

She opened the door and was out of the car before Parker had a chance to stop her. He called after her as he followed, stating that it wasn't safe, but she didn't care about that. She just cared about Gordon.

She reached the edge of the road right as one of the doors on the back of the van opened. It was on its roof, the front half submerged in the shallow, muddy river and the other half still on the bank.

A pair of shoes hit the thick mud of the bank at the same time Penelope slid down the small hill, not even sparing a thought about how she was getting her clothes dirty. She stopped at the water's edge. Those pair of shoes, and the man connected to them, pulled another pair out the back of the van with them.

"Gordon-" The name left her lips before she even realised she'd spoken. Gordon was being forced out the back of the broken van by another man and onto the bank, a short distance away from her.

Gordon had clearly been tossed around in the van as it flipped down the hill, as he appeared much worse for wear than she had last seen him. There was blood coating one side of his face and he wasn't quite looking at Penelope. She wasn't even sure he realised she was there.

The other man had one hand on Gordon's arm that definitely looked out of place, and the other next to Gordon's neck, holding a knife.

"Don't come any closer," the man said, in a voice far shakier than she would expect from a kidnapper. She wasn’t exactly planning on moving closer to them, she had been in this situation before after all, but that didn't stop Parker from appearing at her side a second later.

"Just let him go." Penelope stayed calm, Gordon's eyes flickered towards her. She couldn't take her eyes from the tip of the knife as it dug into Gordon's tanned skin.

The man didn't move, and instead just tightened his grip on Gordon. Gordon winced.

Penelope didn't recognise him, but she came across so many people in her work, who in turn knew many more people. This man could be any one of them, whether they were someone who had some agenda against her or was working for someone who did.

Her gaze moved back to the van as a few more people stumbled out. They didn't hang about and started to run in the opposite direction up the side of the river.

Parker went to move from next to her, but Penelope stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Leave them. The GDF will get them." Penelope knew that John had called them, and it wouldn't be long before they arrived.

As if on cue, Penelope could soon hear the planes approaching in the sky.

The man holding onto Gordon faltered, his grip loosening as he heard it too. He looked up to the sky in panic and then back down at them.

He appeared to be contemplating something, but he wasn't thinking about it for long before he suddenly let go of Gordon and ran after the rest of his group. Gordon dropped to the floor, and with his hands tied he couldn't brace himself before he hit the wet mud.

Parker went running after the man and this time Penelope didn't stop him. Instead, she hurried to Gordon's side.

Gordon's face was twisted in pain, but he squinted up at Penelope when she knelt down in the dirt next to him.

"Hey, Pen." He gave her a lopsided grin.

"Oh, Gordon, I'm so sorry." Penelope ran her fingers through Gordon's hair that was matted with blood and dirt, before moving to try and untie his wrists.

"S'cool," he said, but Penelope felt that this was far from alright. This was all her fault.

She was making her way through the hospital to the room she knew Gordon was in. It was the first time she was visiting him after he had been brought in, as he had slept for most of his stay and according to his brothers, he was now awake.

They knew she was coming, and they said they would let the two of them have some alone time together. She was glad at that. She didn't need them around for what she had planned.

When she reached the door, she knocked twice before letting herself in. Gordon was staring at a wall, looking bored, but he sat up when he saw Penelope enter.

"Pen! Hi!" He sounded and looked exhausted, but he still gave her a tired smile. He had a bandage around his head and one arm was in a sling. "Do you want to sit down?"

He gestured to the chair that had been pulled up to his bed. It had a fresh indent in the cushion, which meant that a brother had recently been sitting there.

"That's alright. I won't be staying for long."

"Oh." He was obviously disappointed and Penelope's heart broke, and she hadn't even gotten onto the reason she was here yet. "Do you have a job to go to?"

"No. Actually, Gordon, it's-" Penelope was never one to be lost for words, but right now she had no idea what to say. Gordon was frowning at her in worry, and it made her feel worse. He was concerned about her even with what she was about to do to him. "This isn't working out."

Gordon was silent for a long moment and Penelope wished he would say something. She couldn't read him past the shock on his face.

"What?" He eventually said, surprised and confused but Penelope couldn't blame him. "What's not working out?"

"Us. I'm the reason you're here, _hurt_. I thought I could keep you safe from me, but I was wrong."

"Pen, this wasn't-"

"No, Gordon. I can't allow you to get hurt anymore. I'm sorry."

Penelope didn't even wait for a response before she turned and left the room. She couldn't bear to see the look on Gordon's face, and her heart shattered when she heard his voice as he called out after her.

She shut the door behind her and hurried back down the corridor. She saw Virgil making his way from the opposite direction, and as much as she didn't want to do this now, she knew she had to.

"Lady Penelope! Leaving already?" Virgil called down the corridor when he saw her. He was smiling, but then his face fell as he got closer and saw the tears that she was barely keeping at bay. "What's wrong?"

"I've broken up with Gordon." She couldn't break it to him slowly, she had to get it over with. She wanted to get out of there. "He got hurt because of me and I can't let that happen again. I'm really sorry."

"What?" The look on his face was parallel to Gordon's, and just like Gordon she wasn't sticking around to see it. It would only break her heart more.

She moved past him before he had a chance to stop her and made her way back out of the hospital. It wasn't until she had left the building and was out sight of anyone that she let the tears fall.

She spent the next few days drowning herself in work to not think about him. She was in contact with the GDF to find out who that group of people were and why they went after her and Gordon.

After the GDF had captured that small group and questioned them all, they found out that they worked for the very criminal that Penelope was working to track down. They had provided more information as to his whereabouts, and with the help of the GDF Penelope was now finally getting somewhere. Hopefully, this time it wouldn't lead her into a trap.

She was just leaving a meeting at the GDF headquarters when her compact started to chime with an incoming call. She wondered who could be calling her, but she had a suspicion.

"Hi, Lady Penelope," Scott said as his hologram appeared in front of her. This was the first she had spoken to any of them since...

"Hello, Scott. Is there something I can do for you?" She kept it polite, she had no reason to be harsh after all. Even if Gordon and her were broken up, she didn't see why she couldn't still be a help to International Rescue. Though, she would understand if they didn't want anything to do with her.

"Gordon wants to see you." He got straight to the point and Penelope couldn't blame him for that. She had done the same before. There was no point beating around the bush.

"Scott, you know I can't-"

"No, Penelope. You don't understand." No one ever cut Lady Penelope off, and yet she snapped her mouth shut. "He doesn't remember you breaking up with him."

"What do you mean?" She frowned, and could see Parker watching her in the mirror as he drove her home. She knew how he felt about her being with Gordon, but even he was judging her for her actions, even if he didn't voice it.

"He...he hit his head pretty hard." Scott rubbed the back of his neck and briefly looked away at something she couldn't see. "I'm sure you know that."

Penelope nodded. She did. She had seen the amount of blood and the bandages and the purple bruising down his face.

"He doesn't really remember much from the first couple days. Doesn't remember you visiting at all, or what you said." If there was a little venom in his voice at that statement, she couldn't blame him. "As far as he's aware, you've not come to see him at all. Do you know how that looks after what happened?"

"You could tell him yourself."

The look Scott sent her told her just how he felt about _that_ idea.

"He's getting discharged tomorrow. You still have time to come and fix this. I know you didn't mean what you said."

"I did mean it." Even she didn't believe her own words. Parker made a small noise from the front seat that showed he felt the same.

"I know he'll forgive you."

Scott didn't wait around for her answer and he hung up a second later. Penelope was left staring at where his hologram once was.

She wanted to not go. She told herself she couldn't go. It would not help getting over him if she went, and would make it all the harder for Gordon if she kept stringing him along when he should be focusing on moving on.

Then why did she want to go so badly.

She left it to the last possible moment. She made her way back down the hospital corridors that were growing familiar to her. She didn't even need directions to the room.

When she got to the room, the door was open. Gordon was sitting on the edge of the bed, his legs swinging beneath him and dressed out of the hospital pyjamas and in his own clothes.

He perked up when he saw her, a smile stretching across his face and it seemed all too familiar to when she was here before.

"Penelope! Where have you been?" He sounded far too happy to see her. He should never want to see her again.

"I've been busy." It wasn't a lie. She had been working all this time. "Where are your brothers?" She was surprised to find him alone when she knew he'd be leaving soon.

"They're just sorting out the discharge papers. Do you want to sit?" He patted the spot on the bed next to him and Penelope's heart ached at the familiarity of before. However, this time she did sit down.

"Gordon, there's something I need to tell you." Penelope decided on what words to use. Gordon watched her, still smiling. "I came to see you before."

"Did you? I don't remember that. Was I asleep?"

"No, you were awake."

"Oh, everything's sort of a blur." Gordon looked away and frowned, but then faced her again seeming worried. "I'm sorry if I wasn't coherent and said something you didn't like. Is that why you haven't come back? I'm really so-"

"No, Gordon. That's not it." She placed a hand on where his sat on the mattress to quiet his rambling. "I broke up with you."

That silenced him, and Penelope hated it just as much as the first time. This time was different, though.

"But I didn't mean it!" She was quick to add. "Well, at the time I did, but now I realise I was wrong."

"Why did you do it then?" Penelope had expected Gordon to be upset, but instead he was watching her with worry. She really did not deserve him.

"After what happened, I couldn't stop thinking about how you got hurt because of me. Those people were after me, so they went for you. We were lucky we found you so quickly, but I can't help but fear what will happen if there is a next time. I just thought it'd be best to end it before that could happen."

She let Gordon have time to process all that. He seemed thoughtful, and Penelope hoped she hadn't unloaded too much on him when he was still healing.

"Pen," he grasped onto her hand and looked right into her eyes. "I don't care how dangerous it is to be with you. If anything, that just makes me want to be with you more." He laughed, she smiled. "Plus, I can look out for myself."

She didn't doubt that.

"So, we good?" He asked with a lopsided smile.

"We're good," she agreed, but then added, "if you'll have me."

He quietened her with a kiss. She smiled against his lips.

The moment they pulled away, Penelope felt a presence at the door. She looked over, and found Virgil and Scott in the doorway.

"I take it you two have made up then?" Scott asked with amusement in his voice and Penelope felt her cheeks heat up.

"Yep!" Gordon grinned, even though he didn't know there was anything to make up from.

"Right, well you're all discharged and free to go." Virgil pushed a wheelchair into the room. "On you get."

Gordon groaned. "Do I have to?"

"Yes, because I don't want to have to carry you if you pass out on the way." Virgil moved around the chair to help Gordon into it, and Gordon moved with only a bit of reluctance.

Penelope went to follow them out the room, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to find Scott, watching her like he was analysing her.

"You're really both good?" He asked, and she nodded. "Good. That's good for him." He nodded his head in the direction of the door that Gordon and Virgil had disappeared through. "But I don't want you to hurt him like that again."

Penelope wasn't sure if he was talking about the breakup or the attempted kidnapping, or both, but either way she wanted to never hurt Gordon again. She had no doubt that Scott would see to her if she did.

"You have my word."

Scott seemed satisfied with that answer, as he nodded once and moved to follow his brothers out into the corridor. She followed a moment later.

"So, you coming back to the island, Lady Penelope?" Virgil asked her as he pushed Gordon along. Gordon looked up at her hopefully, so how could she say no.

"Sure. I'll just let Parker know."

Gordon was grinning up at her as she fished her compact out of her pocket, and she couldn't help but return the smile.

She really, really didn't want to let this go.


End file.
